I’m kickstarting spring with a Fuel Station 5-day juice fast

I was in two minds over whether to blog about my Fuel Station 5-day juice fast because, when I rebranded as Whalebeings at the beginning of 2021, I resolved not to perpetuate unhealthy ideas about body image – for my own sanity as much as for my readers’.

Juice cleanses, or fasts, or detoxes, can be risky for someone with a history of disordered eating because it requires severe restriction – which can trigger all kinds of negative feelings. Let me make this clear: shunning all food and drinking only fruit and vegetable juice is not a healthy, sustainable diet. You shouldn’t do it for any longer than 5 days (3 days is seen as more acceptable).

So why am I doing it?

I feel like my body has become stagnant; like there is some gross blockage in some gross corner of me that needs hoovering out, metaphorically.

For the past 3 weeks I’ve been recording every calorie I’ve consumed and every calorie burned, out of interest and a resolution to trim down and increase my fitness. I eat between 1,500-1,600 healthy, nutritious calories a day on average and burn around 2,400, which is a calorie deficit of 800-900 a day, so technically I should be losing weight quite rapidly (apparently 3,000 calories equates to 1lb of fat). However, the numbers on my scale and tape measure have resolutely refused to change and I still feel really bloated and uncomfortable.

Perhaps this is to do with my genetics; perhaps the deficit is too great and I’m in storage mode; perhaps it’s something to do with having E-coli as a child and my gut being stripped completely of its natural bacteria (gut biome and fat retention are thought to be connected, interestingly).

Either way, I feel like my poor, confused body might benefit from a reset.

Here’s what I’m hoping pre-prepared juice fasting will do for me:

• Reduce amount of washing up I have to do!
• Give me more time to do other things, like write
• Help me feel more mindful and in tune with my body
• Learn not to react to psychological cravings (comfort eating)
• Spend more time meditating/practicing yoga asanas/pranayama
• Help me become more self-disciplined
• Make me feel light, energetic and free from bloating/stomach pain
• Clear out any physical or mental blockages I have
• Help me feel calm
• Help me appreciate food
• Reduce excess fat

Fuel station offers a range of different cleanses. My one is £82.50 for 5 days’ worth of juices (4 per day). I’ll post a blog introducing you to each juice tomorrow and let you know how they taste. I’m not being sponsored for this post (I wish!) so these are 100% my own thoughts and opinions.

Knowing that I had a juice cleanse coming up next week, I have admittedly been making my way through a bottle of wine this weekend (my first alcoholic drink for nearly a month), so I’m going to finish that off this evening. Wouldn’t want it to go to waste eh.